The nineteenth century was a time of major archaeological discovery in Egypt and the near East, but it is striking that the European discovery of Egypt’s past preceded that of the region’s oldest civilization, that of Mesopotamia (Iraq), by some years. Why was this? The remains of ancient Egypt had always had a place in Western consciousness. Collected and written about by the ancient Greeks and Romans, they had found their way into Europe from the earliest days. The remains

For the archaeologist-excavators of ancient Egypt and the near East, all hidden treasures were of interest - but the collectors of these treasures were often particularly interested in those artefacts that contained textual remains. These seemed likely to reveal far more detail about their societies than mute images and architectural elements. Thus the Rosetta Stone of ancient Egypt was highly coveted when it was found by the French in 1799, and was chief among the trophie

The Elgin marbles are today perhaps the most notorious of the ancient art collections taken from foreign lands in the nineteenth century...